My #LIFF2018 coverage continues with makeup artist and documentary filmmaker Tiffany Bartok. She’s the director behind Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story.
Prior to seeing the documentary and doing the interview, I wasn’t aware of Kevyn, but then the few makeup artists I’m aware of tend to be special-effects luminaries like Jack Pierce (Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein) or Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London, Hellboy).
It turns out that Kevyn was quite the makeup trailblazer and one of the early makeup artists who was on a first-name basis with a number of celebrities. He would eventually become a celebrity in his own right during an era when just a handful of people were making a living as professional makeup artists.
Some of the big names Kevyn worked with include Cindy Crawford, Janet Jackson, Liza Minnelli, Naomi Campbell, and Winona Ryder. As Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story reveals, sometimes Kevyn’s high-profile collaborations would lead him to work that would cause ripples throughout the fashion industry for years.
Tiffany’s documentary doesn’t just highlight Kevyn’s achievements and put them in historical perspective though. It also reveals some of the struggles Kevyn faced as an adopted child who would come to feel twice rejected by his biological mother, once because she put him up for adoption and then later in life when he reunited with her and discovered that she had reservations about his sexual identity.
Some of the things that Tiffany and I discuss in our interview include
- What she learned about filmmaking as a makeup artist
- How to deal with celebrities ready to throw a tantrum
- Some of the ways that Kevyn changed the dynamic between celebrities and their makeup artists
- How she was able to get a number of high-profile people to participate in the documentary and share honest perspectives about Kevyn
- The way that Kevyn redefined how we think about and perceive beauty
Below, my podcast coverage of #LIFF2018 continues with director Tiffany Bartok:
Tiffany will be attending LIFF 2018, so if you plan to attend then you can continue the conversation there.
Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story will be playing at #LIFF2018 on Saturday, April 21 at 5:00 PM, and Tiffany will be participating in a filmmaking discussion earlier in the day, from 3:30 – 3:45 PM. Tickets are available through LIFF’s website.
Makeup artists are often paired with hair stylists on films, so if you enjoyed this episode, you might also appreciate hearing from film stylist Dana Boisseau, who has worked on projects including Ray, Django Unchained, and The Butler. As it happens, I also met Dana through LIFF, and my podcast started as a result.
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Sponsor for this Episode
#- LIFF 2018
- Tiffany Bartok
- Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story
- Shortcut for the podcast: nicksav.show
Additional music for the show provided by Rob Costlow.
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